In Disability: Living into the Diversity of Christ’s Body, Brian Brock offers a theologically rich and pastorally sensitive exploration of disability that confronts the church’s often unexamined assumptions about embodiment, normalcy, and belonging. Part of the Pastoring for Life: Theological Wisdom for Ministering Well series, this book invites pastors and counselors alike to rethink disability not as an add-on to ministry concerns (much like what we previously have seen in schools with special needs programing that takes children out of the classroom) but as a profound lens through which we understand the body of Christ and the nature of Christian community.
[Read more…] about Disability [Book Review]
Top Posts of 2025
As 2025 came to a close and before we jump too far into 2026, we’re taking a moment to reflect with gratitude on the conversations God stirred through this space over the past year. The articles highlighted below represent the most visited posts of 2025 on our site, topics that resonated deeply with pastors, Christian counselors, and church leaders navigating the complex intersection of faith, mental health, and ministry. From caring well for hurting congregants to tending to our own souls as helpers, these posts reveal a shared longing for wisdom, wholeness, and Christ-centered care in a demanding season of ministry.
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Numbering Our Days Well: A Christian Approach to Goal Setting
As we step into a new year, many of us feel a renewed desire to grow personally, spiritually, and professionally. For many, this season is more than simply writing resolutions; it’s an invitation to align our intentions with God’s purposes while developing habits that support long-term transformation.
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The Mental Health Handbook for Ministry [Book Review]
In recent years, pastors and church leaders have found themselves navigating a new layer of ministry, one where mental health concerns are not peripheral but central to the wellbeing of their congregations. Dr. Mark Mayfield’s The Mental Health Handbook for Ministry arrives at just the right time, offering clarity, grounding, and practical guidance for leaders who want to shepherd well in today’s emotionally complex world.
[Read more…] about The Mental Health Handbook for Ministry [Book Review]
Christians, Mental Health, and Christmas Advent
The season of Advent is a time of hopeful expectation, four weeks set aside to prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ. Yet for many individuals and families, this season is also layered with grief, anxiety, loneliness, shame and regret, and emotional exhaustion. Christian counselors and pastors are uniquely positioned to support the Church in holding both the joy and the struggle.
Below is a guide to understanding how mental health intersects with Advent, and how you can offer compassionate, clinically-informed, spiritually-grounded care.
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Stephen Ministry: What Pastors And Counselors Should Know
As a Christian counselor who regularly partners with pastors, I often see the strain clergy carry when trying to meet the emotional and spiritual needs of their congregations. Many pastors are doing the work of multiple staff members while also carrying the weight of people’s crises, grief, and long-term struggles. One of the most effective church-based supports I’ve seen, and one I often recommend to pastors, is Stephen Ministry.
[Read more…] about Stephen Ministry: What Pastors And Counselors Should Know
Finding Sustaining Joy in Christ [Video]
In the video “Life Sustaining Joy”, (displayed below) Joni Eareckson Tada, of Joni and Friends, draws our attention to a profound truth: Christian joy is not merely a fleeting feeling of happiness or relief from pain, but a deep, life-sustaining reality anchored in the person of Christ and the gospel of his suffering, death, and resurrection.
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Can Christians Take Medication for Mental Health?
One of the most pain-stricken questions in church conversations today is this: “Can a Christian in good faith take psychiatric medication or other mental-health drugs?” Many in our congregations, sometimes even pastors, feel tension or fear around this question. They worry that taking medication implies weak faith, sometimes explicitly communicated as trusting medicine more than God, or even that it is sinful.
In this article, I want to offer a pastoral, Biblical, and clinical perspective, aimed especially at pastors, elders, and Christians who counsel, on how to think about medication for mental health. My hope is that churches can become safer, wiser places for believers who struggle, not places of shame or silence.
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Spiritual Warfare or Mental Health Issue? How to Discern the Difference
As a Christian counselor who has walked alongside pastors and ministry leaders within the Church as well as Christians in the counseling room, one of the more common and challenging questions I hear is: “Is this person struggling with spiritual warfare, or is this a mental health issue?”
For Christians who take seriously both the authority of Scripture and the reality of clinical mental health, this is not a question with quick or simplistic answers. The truth is, people live at the intersection of mind, body, community, and spirit. When distress shows up, we must discern carefully: Is this the enemy at work, a psychological struggle, or sometimes a mixture of both?
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Jesus and Therapy [Book Review]
Tabitha Yates’ Jesus and Therapy is a thoughtful, heartfelt, and much-needed contribution to the conversation about mental health and faith within the Christian community. With compassion and clarity, Yates challenges the false narrative that trusting Jesus and seeking therapy are somehow incompatible. Instead, she presents a vision of wholeness that honors Christ while affirming the God-given wisdom and tools offered by mental health professionals.
[Read more…] about Jesus and Therapy [Book Review]